Jon,
There is nothing strange about finding that Brezhnev is a popular figure among Russians. His reign was the high-point of communism’s good life: reward without too much work or political commitment. My mother-in-law mentions the wondrous times of Brezhnev on a daily basis – she is a pensioner receiving $33 a month in the new Russia – Moscow is one of the most expensive cities to live in worldwide.
Least we forget, Brezhnev’s Soviet Union was a super-power feared and technologically comparable to the level of the United States at the time. The Soviet Union collapsed for many reasons. It failed, primarily, because of gross capital allocation expenditure decisions (i.e. it could put a man in space, but could not master air-conditioning or produce tampons) and its inability to understand the county’s changing nationalities issues. These are issues most Russians cannot comprehend this at the moment.
However, there is no doubt that most Russians close to my age (41) have every reason to believe that the epoch of Brezhnev surpasses anything the former functionary from the KGB turned president claims or hopes for this country. The former professors of Moscow University turned gypsy taxi-drivers and a former top-ranked (female) Soviet city planner tell me this everyday – when I flag down a car to go to worlk or walk my dogs.
Sorry if this is a too upfront and personal account. But putting down Brezhnev is to put down the best memories of most people living in Russia today.
Peter Jon Johanning <jjohanning at igc.org> wrote:On Saturday, October 4, 2003, at 09:10 AM, Chris Doss wrote:
> Putin more popular than Communist icons, but Russians wary of
> "democracy"
> October 2, 2003
> AFP
>
[snip]
> The second-most popular leader with 10 percent support is Leonid
> Brezhnev,
> the neo-Stalinist Communist party general secretary whose name is
> associated with a heightening of repression in the 1970s and a long
> period
> of economic stagnation.
What the heck do they see in Brezhnev?! Seems rather nutsy to me! (Perhaps it was some sort of statistical error? --- Or was it his obvious sex appeal?)
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